1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video generating apparatus and method, and, more particularly, to a technique which is suitably used to generate a sample video of an exercise or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many cases where exercises serve as useful health promotion measures such as a measure to improve a frozen shoulder, a measure to strengthen the muscles of leg and waist, a measure to eliminate a metabolic syndrome, and the like. However, it is not enough to merely do exercise even in these cases. Namely, it is important to appropriately select exercise programs and loads according to conditions of a user's body. Under the circumstance, there are professionals such as a physical therapist, a healthy exercise educator and the like for teaching and instructing such appropriate exercises.
In case of teaching an exercise, to show a sample exercise as video is intuitive and enables easy understanding. For this reason, many physical therapists and healthy exercise educators widely use sample video of exercises at the scene of teaching. However, there is no exercise which serves as a useful sample for everyone. That is, there are many kinds of ways of properly moving a body and putting loads on a body according to ability and condition of a person who intends to do the exercise. It is better that the sample video to be presented to the person doing the exercise is suitable for the ability and the condition of the relevant person. However, as a practical matter, it is troublesome and costly to form a sample video independently for each person. Consequently, for example, in a case where a more careful exercise is required as in a case of rehabilitation to recover from injury, the sample video is used merely as a guide. As a result, in fact, the physical therapists, the healthy exercise educators and the like teach and instruct the exercises painstakingly and carefully.
In this context, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-213782 discloses a technique of generating and presenting a sample video which is suitable for the ability of a person who performs an exercise (i.e., an exerciser). In this technique, the exerciser exercising while watching a sample video is taken by a camera, and it is judged based on an obtained video whether or not the exerciser can follow a sample exercise. Then, when it is judged that the exerciser cannot follow the sample exercise, an exercise level of the sample video is decreased and/or displaying speed is decreased. Thus, it is possible by using this technique to present the sample video showing an exercise quantity suitable for the ability of the exerciser.
Likewise, Japanese Patent No. 3472238 discloses a technique of presenting a sample video suitable for a condition of an exerciser. In this technique, if information indicating a body site that the exerciser intends to tone up, or a body site to which function recovery is required by the exerciser is input, an exercise program in which a quantity of calories to be spent or the like is used as an index is created, and a sample of the suitable exercise is presented by using a human body model. Thus, it is possible in this technique to present the sample video showing a quantity of exercise suitable for the condition (wish) of the exerciser.
However, in the above known techniques, it is impossible to generate and present a sample video showing a pose which is suitable for the ability and the condition of the exerciser.
For example, in the rehabilitation which aims to improvement of the frozen shoulder, the exercise is performed so as to gradually and largely move the shoulder to the extent that the exerciser can. However, even in such a case, it is necessary for the exerciser to effortlessly move the shoulder within the range that the exerciser does not feel a pain. That is, the range in which the shoulder can be moved is different for each exerciser. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-213782, the content of the sample video is determined according to whether the exerciser can follow the sample video. Consequently, if the exerciser forcedly follows the sample video showing that the shoulder is largely moved, the improper sample video by which the exerciser has to continue the improper exercises is resultingly generated and presented. For this reason, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-213782 is improper to present the sample video which is suitable for the pose (not the quantity of the exercise) of the exerciser.
Moreover, it has been known that, in a squat exercise which is effective for strengthening a muscle of a lower body, there are several variations such as a method of bending a knee while keeping a back vertical, a method of bending a knee while slightly inclining a back forward without forcedly bending the back, and the like. Apparently, what kind of squat exercise should be used is different according to a condition of the exerciser. For example, it is effective for a person who does not have a pain in his/her knee to adopt the method of deeply bending the knee to the extent that his/her thigh becomes parallel to a floor while keeping the back vertical. On the other hand, it is effective for a person who has a pain in his/her knee to adopt the method of slightly bending the knee while slightly inclining the back to the extent that he/she does not feel a pain. Further, it is preferable for a person who feels a pain in his/her waist to keep his/her back vertical rather than to incline the back forward. However, even in such a condition, when the relevant person does not feel a pain in the waist, it is better for him/her to slightly bend the knee. For these reasons, it is impossible to properly determine the exercise (pose) only by merely designating the body site with use of the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3472238.
In this connection, in a case where the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3472238 is developed, there is a possibility of enabling to generate and present an exercise sample showing a more appropriate pose not only by merely inputting the body site that the exerciser intends to harden but also by inputting the joint that the exerciser feels a pain, the extent of the pain, and the like. However, as the exerciser intends to more properly set the contents of the exercise, the number of information to be input previously becomes large, whereby it takes time to input the relevant information.